Posted
by
samzenpus
on Sunday March 31, 2013 @02:32PM
from the all-gone dept.

hypnosec writes "Easter has brought some good news for Raspberry Pi fans in the US as the $25 Model A of the credit card sized computer is now available in the United States. Texas based Allied Electronics is the first local retailer selling the Raspberry Pi in the U.S. and has been selling the Pi through its online store. (There were companies selling the Raspberry Pi over eBay to U.S. users for a higher price tag earlier.) The Model A has sold out completely and as of this writing there is zero availability."

Customer: "They're selling this product for $50 below list price across the street."Retailer: "OK, so buy it across the street".Customer: "They said they don't have it in stock".Retailer: "If I didn't have it in stock, I could sell it for $100 off list."

Bzzt. Wrong. Model A is the low-power version preferred by the "maker" community, as having no ethernet and no built-in USB hub, it consumes just 300mA / 1.5W compared to Model B's 600mA / 3.5W. Connect a Model A to a cheapo "emergency phone charger" and you can go for quite a while. Adding a USB nano bluetooth adaptor or wifi adaptor edges up the consumption by 100-150mA, still well under the Model B.

If you're looking for something to be the heart of something battery powered, like a remote control car, mobile robot or something you can port around with you, the Model A is where you want to be. Well, assuming you want a "full" Linux box - if your project only requires very minimal computing power then an Arduino will cost even less, but you usually have to control it from another PC.

I ordered two Model A's this morning. (I saw it in the Raspberry Pi news section of Google News.)

I already have a few Model B's. I will develop on a Model B, because the ram makes a performance difference. My projects seem to either need more than 2 USB ports anyway, so the built in 2 port USB hub on the B doesn't help. I usually have an external hub. And most things I do are wireless, so the built in ethernet isn't useful. So why pay the extra 3.5 watts?

There are people who make things - It would be appropriate to call them makers... And then there are people who subscribe to the philosophy that this is somehow new and brilliant. This rubs some people the wrong way, and they may decide to call attention to it by placing "maker" in quotes.

Personally, I think the maker movement is a good thing, but they've attracted some of the lunatic fringe. Some "makers" are neither making useful things, nor are they as cool as they'd like to believe. Yet they're part

--At times like this I feel compelled to mention the Cubieboard - it can run at 500mA / 1W (altho 2W is preferred IIRC; personally I power mine off the USB port on my Router or TV), has better hardware specs than the Pi -- including a SATA port, and can actually *max out* its Ethernet 100Mbit connection. It's a bit pricier, but a much more capable Linux board - it's become my primary Squid server for the household.

www.microcenter.com has them in stock, we some friends we picked up 4. Oh and only $39.99 for the model B wtih 512MB.
Built a lego case for now, will 3D print a real case later. Using OpenElec and Raspbian and loving it.
Now I only have to find a way to merge it with the Arduino's......

The Model B is available at MCM Electronics and they have the cases, pi/case combos, Gerboard, Pi-Face, Humble-Pi, Slice of Pi, Arduino goodies, screens, user interface stuff etc.... . 99.9% of their business is mail order but their massive warehouse is a short drive for me. Anytime I need electronics components I just call them up and go pick up my stuff at the little window behind the warehouse.

They have Model B, but no Model A. I want a Model A because I plan to use the device as an embedded controller and I will likely code my own assembly or C code, no need for a linux stack. So, where can I get a $25 Model A in the USA?

I was toying with the idea of using some of the techniques others have done on the Model B to reduce power but make it switchable. Like on freneticrapport except leaving the components on the PCB. It would be a challenge.

Dunno what planet you live on, but there's now over a million of the little buggers out in the wild - not bad for a credit-card sized basic computer system that runs Linux (other OS's available too, btw). If the sales of the model B had been in line with the Foundations initial expectation, ie around 10,000 or so, then "shameless plugs might be the order of the day.

For someting thats not a general consumer item, then SALES of a million devices in just over a year (not just inventory stock) is bloody good

Forgot to say, the pcDuino is US$59 + shipping, the Cubieboard is US$65+shipping (and that included cables and case). Both came in about a week to New Zealand.

This website [linux-sunxi.org] is the center of the world for the Allwinner A10 SoC that these boards and quite a few other systems are based on, and individual boards have their own board specific forums too (e.g. http://www.pcduino.com/ [pcduino.com]) . As the A10 SoC is used in a lot of low-end Android tablets I am pretty sure that it will have shipped more units than Raspberry

specifically didn't post a product due to being called a shill, and as I post alternatives I've seen ill just get "but it doesn't have this," besides I'm not an expert in this area, I know I've seen a kickstarter for one that has add-on board kits that have single and double AA battery power supplies, usb boards, and so on. I believe it had wifi built in as well for a similar price point to the pi A.

I'm sure it lacks something and benefits another way. I'm sure PI is a killer hardware device for certain ap

You can buy gumstick devices for $25 up on alibaba.com. Even for quantities of 1. e.g. this example [alibaba.com]. Just type "android stick" and you'll find countless other vendors selling numerous variants. They come with a faster processor, more RAM, built-in storage, wifi, case, cable and adapter.

As a package, the Pi is already obsolete and outclassed. Where it does have an advantage is it's very easy to flash (just stick an SD in it), has a large and coherent support base, and has some connectors for hooking it up to other things.